The large main hall of the museum now houses a number of “big objects” from the collection. These include vehicles that are well travelled. One very Australian story held my fascination – the saw doctors wagon.

This large trailer is brightly painted decorated with geegaws, tools, family photographs, and hand made signage that served to advertise Harold Wright’s mobile home and workshop.

In Australia during the Depression of the 1930s, unemployment levels reached to over 30 per cent and many people survived by becoming itinerant workers, travelling from town to town to get work.

The wagon started its life in the 30’s as a horse drawn vehicle, but as times and the economy changed the wagon was refurbished and enlarged, fitting it onto the chassis of a truck, and towed by a tractor.

Named the Road Urchin, the wagon travelled throughout north-west Victoria and New South Wales for 34 years, housing Harold Wright, his wife Dorothy, daughter Evelyn and dogs, cats and chickens!

As a travelling blade sharpener, Harold Wright made little money. Apart from reflecting a family’s itinerant lifestyle what fascinated me about this vehicle was all the scrappy bits and pieces the trailer was decorated with accompanied with the sense that each item was probably picked up on the road and probably had a story attached to them.

I wanted to hear what it was like when the trailer moved as I am sure it would have rattled as it made its way around the back blocks.

Interspersed between tools, knick knacks and gee-gaws were photographs of family and friends.

Also dotted all over the wagon there are handmade signs many clipped from newspapers and modified to suit the message.

If the story intrigues you on the Culture Victoria website there is a short film about Harold Wright, his life and you old footage of the vehicle being driven.

I came away from my visit feeling this country has been home to some strong individualists indeed.

I am very concerned as it appears that via some sort of strange rift in the fabric of time a desperate struggling artist used one of Tadao Cern photographs as a source image for his ‘self Portrait’. I believe the artist’s name is Vincent … It is a strange story indeed …

The Everyday Matters drawing challenge was first run by Artist and Author Danny Gregory.

Too many years of image making using digital tools have left my hand and eye skills very rusty so I decided to embark upon the Every Day Matters Drawing challenge. I plan to draw at least 250 of the prompts which I have listed on the EDM drawing challenge page. I plan to strike through each item as I draw it. I dont plan to work the list in order, but to choose what attracts me at the moment and aim to draw as frequently as possible.

I thought today I would share a few Journal page spreads. When I first open up a new sketchbook I often do these small mixed media collage pieces. Although I love the fresh new paper and the anticipation of a new sketchbook it always feel just a little bit alien as I have yet to use it. As I use a book, as it acquires a history it becomes a comfortable space to experiment in. Usually until I am part the way into a sketchbook I don’t really feel at ease with it. So most of these pages are an attempt to personalise something that feels to new.

My notebooks are a mix of sketchbooks purchased at art supply stores, usually hard bound. Other notebooks I have put together myself a mix of papers and had them spiral wire bound at the local print shop. Some I have hand bound myself. Other sketchbooks are Moleskines but I stopped using them after I felt the quality dropped a few years ago when they started to bind them in China.

I use both A4 and A5 sized sketchbooks depending upon my mood. I also write in them a as you would a regular journal but instead of looking inwards which I find a bit boring, I like to treat my journal more like a note book and record such things as what I encounter in my day, news of the day, books I read, wildlife seen on my morning walk, developments in technology etc . Recently after many years using digital media to create imagery I have returned to simple pencil and paper. I am currently trying to get past being very rusty with my drawing skills.